I am writing this update to the post I posted on the 3rd of October, the date of Dafydd ap Gruffydd's gruesome execution in 1283, as a few had responded to that post with criticisms of Dafydd for rebelling against Llywelyn on a number of occasions during this period of our history. I must, first of all ask those that are so ready to judge and criticise Dafydd's acts of rebellion against his brother if they have read and analysed this history thoroughly and will venture to say, that had they done so, they would be in a sounder position to understand the reasons behind Dafydd's bouts of rebellion against his brother Llywelyn.
But, I know that not many have the time or inkling to carry out such detailed research so, without having to go back over 200 yrs to when the Anglo Normans began their campaign of oppression and terror whilst they pillaged Cymric lands, I will endeavour to explain events in Dafydd's early history that may help us all to understand why he may have had an axe to grind.
Dafydd was of course, a Tywysog from the Royal House of Gwynedd. His father was Gruffydd, the illigitimate son of Llywelyn ab Iorwerth or, Llywelyn Fawr who had married Joan, the daughter of King John of England.
You may ask why a Cymric Prince would marry an English Princess, the enemy so to speak? well, the reason was solely political, such marriages were utilized by the Cymry in their attempts to preserve their political identity and autonomy against the incursions of the Anglo-Normans, as well as to gain advantages over their Welsh rivals. The Anglo-Normans, in turn, used the marriages to gain land and influence in Wales. Llywelyn Fawr by this time had achieved to extend his power to rule over Powys and the Deuheubarth.
Apart from Gruffydd, Llywelyn Fawr had another son with Joan named Dafydd, and in Cymric law, both he and Gruffydd had equal rights to Llywelyn Fawr's throne on his death but Llywelyn Fawr had named Dafydd as his sole heir and although he gave Gruffydd large estates in Merioneth and ardudwy, Gruffydd resented being deprived of the succession and caused turmoil in the lands that had been given to him. As a result, he was imprisoned, twice, by Llywelyn Fawr, the first incarceration was for 2yrs and the second lasted for six yrs. It was during this climate of being made aware of their father's grieviances due to being the dispossessed son that his young children Owain, Llywelyn, Dafydd (the Dafydd that concerns us) and Rhodri was weaned.
Then, following Llywelyn Fawr's death, his grandchildren, Gruffydd's children, witnessed further strife between their father and their uncle Dafydd because of Gruffydd having been left out of the succession and Dafydd ap Llywelyn also then incarcenated Gruffydd and his oldest son Owain in Cricieth castle.
By 1241, the then English king, Henry III who was also Dafydd ap Llywelyn's first cousin due to Llywelyn Fawr's marriage to Joan, realized the benefit in keeping Gruffydd and Owain imprisoned and moved them to the Tower of London and despite Gruffydd's wife, Serena's payment of 6OO marks to the King in a settlement to secure their release, the king double crossed her, keeping the money along with her young sons Dafydd and Rhodri as hostages. Dafydd was 3 yrs old when he was taken as hostage and his brother Rhodri was younger.
Gruffydd died three years later in an attempt to escape from the Tower with the assistance of a rope made out of his bedding or, so it was reported by the English but, was he pushed out of the window?
This freed Dafydd ap Llywelyn's hand as King Henry could no longer use Gruffudd against him and he went into war against Henry in the spring of 1244 and had some success in regaining stolen Cymric land. Owain meanwhile had been freed by Henry in the hope that he would start a civil war in Gwynedd, but he remained at Chester.
Llywelyn Fawr's son Dafydd ap Llywelyn died childless in 1246 and he was succeeded by Owain and Llywelyn, our Dafydd had, again, been left out of the succession and Rhodri the youngest of the sons had sold his share to Llywelyn for 1000 marks.
Owain and Llywelyn came to terms with Henry, but the terms of the Treaty of Woodstock in 1247 restricted their dynasty to Gwynedd Uwch Conwy, the part of Gwynedd west of the River Conwy, which was divided between them. The other half of Gwynedd, Gwynedd Is Conwy, east of the river, was taken over by the king, who gave it to his son, Edward (Longshanks)
.Though initially paying homage to the English king, Owain and Llywelyn soon broke with Henry III in protest over the ruthless raids being conducted on the Welsh border.
Dafydd came of age soon afterwards, and King Henry accepted his homage and announced his intention of giving him a part of the already much reduced Gwynedd Uwch Conwy. Of course, Henry didn't give 'two hoots' about Dafydd's rights to succession but was, as always, prepared to use him as a pawn in the old game of 'divide and rule. Llywelyn refused to accept this, and Owain and Dafydd formed an alliance against him. This led to the Battle of Bryn Derwin in June 1255. Llywelyn defeated Owain and Dafydd and captured them, thereby becoming sole ruler of Gwynedd Uwch Conwy.
In 1256, whilst Henry III was preoccupied in struggles with his barons, Llywelyn released Dafydd from captivity to join him in a campaign against the English in the Perfeddwlad. The Cymry were constantly complaining about the oppression they were forced to endure under the English in the this region and Henry had made no concessions of land to Dafydd in the half of Gwynedd that he had possessed and had given the Perfeddwlad to his son Edward.
Gradually, Llywelyn was able to recover much of his power and in 1258 proceeded to extend Gwynedd's territory until it encompassed much of the rest of Cymru; he then declared himself Tywysog Cymru and formed an alliance with the Scots.
Dafydd rebelled against his brother's rule again in 1263 when Llywelyn was at his strongest; there are many theories why he did this, a Chester chronicler stated that he wanted to release Owain the oldest of the brothers who Llywelyn was still holding in captivity. Whatever his reasons were, he joined Henry III in an attack on Llywelyn.
I have merely copied the following extract from the Llywelyn ap Gruffydd Wikepedia page as it gives a fair account of events leading up to the final conflict in 1282 - 83 and I could certainly do no better.
"In England, Simon de Montfort (the Younger) defeated the king's supporters at the Battle of Lewes in 1264, capturing the king and Prince Edward. Llywelyn began negotiations with de Montfort, and in 1265, offered him 30,000 marks in exchange for a permanent peace, in which Llywelyn's right to rule Wales would be acknowledged. The Treaty of Pipton, 22 June 1265, established an alliance between Llywelyn and de Montfort, but the very favourable terms given to Llywelyn in this treaty were an indication of de Montfort's weakening position. De Montfort was to die at the Battle of Evesham in 1265, a battle in which Llywelyn took no part.
After Simon de Montfort's death, Llywelyn launched a campaign in order to rapidly gain a bargaining position before King Henry had fully recovered. In 1265, Llywelyn captured Hawarden Castle and routed the combined armies of Hamo Lestrange and Maurice fitz Gerald in north Wales. Llywelyn then moved on to Brycheiniog, and in 1266, he routed Roger Mortimer's army. With these victories and the backing of the papal legate, Ottobuono, Llywelyn opened negotiations with the king, and was eventually recognised as Prince of Wales by King Henry in the Treaty of Montgomery in 1267. In return for the title, the retention of the lands he had conquered and the homage of almost all the native rulers of Wales, he was to pay a tribute of 25,000 marks in yearly installments of 3,000 marks, and could if he wished, purchase the homage of the one outstanding native prince - Maredudd ap Rhys of Deheubarth - for another 5,000 marks. However, Llywelyn's territorial ambitions gradually made him unpopular with some minor Welsh leaders, particularly the princes of south Wales.
The Treaty of Montgomery marked the high point of Llywelyn's power. Problems began arising soon afterwards, initially a dispute with Gilbert de Clare concerning the allegiance of a Welsh nobleman holding lands in Glamorgan. Gilbert built Caerphilly Castle in response to this. King Henry sent a bishop to take possession of the castle while the dispute was resolved but when Gilbert regained the castle by trickery, the king was unable to do anything about it.
Following the death of King Henry in late 1272, with the new King Edward I of England away from the kingdom, the rule fell to three men. One of them, Roger Mortimer was one of Llywelyn's rivals in the marches. When Humphrey de Bohun tried to take back Brycheiniog, which was granted to Llywelyn by the Treaty of Montgomery, Mortimer supported de Bohun. Llywelyn was also finding it difficult to raise the annual sums required under the terms of this treaty, and ceased making payments.
In early 1274, there was a plot by Llywelyn's brother, Dafydd, and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn of Powys Wenwynwyn and his son, Owain, to kill Llywelyn. Dafydd was with Llywelyn at the time, and it was arranged that Owain would come with armed men on 2 February to carry out the assassination; however, he was prevented by a snowstorm. Llywelyn did not discover the full details of the plot until Owain confessed to the Bishop of Bangor. He said that the intention had been to make Dafydd Prince of Gwynedd, and that Dafydd would reward Gruffydd with lands. Dafydd and Gruffydd fled to England where they were maintained by the king and carried out raids on Llywelyn's lands, increasing Llywelyn's resentment. When Edward called Llywelyn to Chester in 1275 to pay homage, Llywelyn refused to attend.
Llywelyn also made an enemy of King Edward by continuing to ally himself with the family of Simon de Montfort, even though their power was now greatly reduced. Llywelyn sought to marry Eleanor de Montfort, born in 1252, Simon de Montfort's daughter. They were married by proxy in 1275, but King Edward took exception to the marriage, in part because Eleanor was his first cousin: her mother was Eleanor of England, daughter of King John and princess of the House of Plantagenet. When Eleanor sailed from France to meet Llywelyn, Edward hired pirates to seize her ship and she was imprisoned at Windsor Castle until Llywelyn made certain concessions.
In 1276, Edward declared Llywelyn a rebel and in 1277, gathered an enormous army to march against him. Edward's intention was to disinherit Llywelyn completely and take over Gwynedd Is Conwy himself. He was considering two options for Gwynedd Uwch Conwy: either to divide it between Llywelyn's brothers, Dafydd and Owain, or to annex Anglesey and divide only the mainland between the two brothers. Edward was supported by Dafydd ap Gruffydd and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn. Many of the lesser Welsh princes who had supported Llywelyn now hastened to make peace with Edward. By the summer of 1277, Edward's forces had reached the River Conwy and encamped at Deganwy, while another force had captured Anglesey and took possession of the harvest there. This deprived Llywelyn and his men of food, forcing them to seek terms
What resulted was the Treaty of Aberconwy, which guaranteed peace in Gwynedd in return for several difficult concessions from Llywelyn, including confining his authority to Gwynedd Uwch Conwy once again. Part of Gwynedd Is Conwy was given to Dafydd ap Gruffydd, with a promise that if Llywelyn died without an heir, he would be given a share of Gwynedd Uwch Conwy instead.
Llywelyn was forced to acknowledge the English king as his sovereign; initially he had refused, but after the events of 1276, Llywelyn was stripped of all but a small portion of his lands. He went to meet Edward, and found Eleanor lodged with the royal family at Worcester; after Llywelyn agreed to Edward's demands, Edward gave them permission to be married at Worcester Cathedral."
Following the Treaty of Aberconwy in 1277, which gave Dafydd two cantrefs in the Perfeddwlad, the brothers were finally reconciled. They had finally come to realize that Edward I was hell bent on conquering and filling the whole of Cymru with English settlers,
As soon as the treaty was signed on November 10th 1277, Edward started work on building several fortresses along the approach to Gwynedd, at Aberystwyth Builth, Fflint and Rhuddlan.
The English Lords he had given lands to all over Cymru were not only oppressing the Gwerin of those lands but they were busily encroaching on lands that the king had given to the lesser Cymric Princes that had supported him in his campaigns prior to the Treaty of Aberconwy. In Dafydd ap Gruffydd's case, he had to attend a court in Chester to defend his right to the lands of Hop and Estyn. These were lands which were given to Dafydd by the king as part of his settlement but were lands that were being claimed by an English Lord - Reginald de Grey.
It is interesting to note here that Dafydd very strongly declared Cymric law as his main plea in this hearing, stating loudly that he had nothing to answer to as the land was Cymric land and, it is interesting to note that the same argument was being used by the other Cymric lesser Princes and landowners throughout Cymru now finding themselves having to defend their lands from being encroached on by English settler lords in English court hearings.
The lesser Cymric Princes and landowners were dispatching accounts of the oppression that they and their Gwerin tenants were having to endure to Llywelyn who, in due course, was to pass them on to the English archbishop Peckham. They had also been resigned to realizing that they could not depend on their past loyalty to the English king to safeguard their lands or their Gwerin folk from oppression. It was this spread of discontent that kicked off the war of 1282.
Dafydd attacked Hawarden Castle on Palm Sunday, 21 March 1282, he then laid siege to Rhuddlan, He has been blamed for starting the war but, chroniclers of the times state that Llywelyn was on board from the onset. The Chester chronicler claims that it was Llywelyn who suggested to Dafydd that he should attack Hawarden castle and other chroniclers placed him at the sieges of Fflint and Rhuddlan castles. Edward 1, also, in a letter to Margaret, the French Queen, dated 8 April 1282 ,and in a similar letter to Alfonso of Castille, stated that Llywelyn and his brother Dafydd had risen against him. So, it appears that both brothers had come to a decision that they had no choice but to fight for Cymru against the prevailing English occupation and oppression.
We are all aware of the sad outcome of the last war of 1282 - 3 but I will once again quote a concluding passage from wikipedia as a reminder to one and all:
"Events followed a similar pattern to 1277, with Edward's forces capturing Gwynedd Is Conwy, Anglesey and taking the harvest. The force occupying Anglesey were defeated, however, when trying to cross to the mainland in the Battle of Moel-y-don. The Archbishop of Canterbury tried mediating between Llywelyn and Edward, and Llywelyn was offered a large estate in England if he would surrender Wales to Edward, while Dafydd was to go on crusade and not return without the king's permission. In an emotional reply, which has been compared to the Declaration of Arbroath, Llywelyn said he would not abandon the people whom his ancestors had protected since "the days of Kamber son of Brutus" and rejected the offer."
To undertand what motivated Dafydd ap Gruffydd's actions throughout his life entails a study and understanding of the history along with taking into consideration the 'wheeling and dealings' of the time throughout Europe as far as political power and land were concerned.
Arranged marriages to amalgamate power and wealth was practiced as the norm as illustrated with the marriages of Llywelyn Fawr and Joan of England, and Llywelyn ap Gruffydd and Eleanor de Montford.
Up to the "so called" conquest of Cymru in 1283, Cymru's law was the Law of Hywel Dda. In this law, which differed from England's, every recognised son had equal right to a share of the father's properties on his death. This was of utmost significant importance in the case of the Cymric Princes as it meant that kingdoms had to be shared making it impossible to maintain permanent unity. This, of course, was of great benefit to the invading Anglo Normans who would use this law and practise as a weapon to 'divide and rule' and this is what the Plantagenet's did in the case of Gruffydd ap Llywelyn Fawr and his son Dafydd. Both had been denied their heritable rights as dictated by the Cymric Laws and both rebelled for those reasons and were incarcerated by both the Cymric and English rulers as consequence.
As outlined earlier, Dafydd, at the very young age of three yrs had been held as a hostage by the English king. Gruffydd, his father, had died 'in suspicious circumstances' at the Tower of London and Dafydd had then been deprived of his father and, like his father before him, he knew what he was entitled to alongside with his brothers but, he was deprived of that also so yes, he had 'an axe' to grind' a cause to rebel against Llywelyn - which he did on several occasions and was incarcerated for doing so.
Owain, the eldest of the brothers had been kept in captivity by Llywelyn for over 22yrs so that he could not oppose him and Rhodri, the youngest of the four brothers, had sold his right to his heritable share to Llywelyn, more than likely he had rightly envisioned how it would all end and just wanted a quiet life.
So, in my view, Dafydd deserves to be understood and recognised as a Prince of the Royal House of Gwynedd who tried to fight for what he was entitled to by whatever means necessary - which meant allying with the English at times, which was far from being unusual in those precarious times. Let's remember that all of the other lesser Princes were changing sides all the time and let's not forget how their Grandfather, Llywelyn Fawr allied with the Anglo Normans of the Gower against Rhys ap Gruffydd.
Dafydd never again rebelled against Llywelyn following the Treaty of Aberconwy, undoubtedly, both brothers had resigned to the facts that they could either stand by and watch the invaders encroach on every acre of Cymric land until they had it all or, that they could unite to lead their nation and people in a stand against the enemy. They decided on the latter.
By June 1283, the war was over, Llywelyn had been lured in December 1282 to meet the combined forces of Edmund and Roger Mortimer, Hugo Le Strange, and Gruffydd ap Gwenwynwyn on the promise that he would receive their homage. This proved to be a trap. Llywelyn's army was immediately engaged in fierce battle; he and his eighteen retainers become separated, they were ambushed and chased into a wood at Aberedw, Llywelyn was caught in a cave and struck down. As he lay dying, he asked for a priest. He was then killed and his head was hacked from his body and taken to Edward at Rhuddlan. After it had been shown to the English troops in Anglesey, it was sent to London where it was set up in the city pillory for a day, and crowned with ivy to mock as a "king" of Outlaws Then it was carried by a horseman on the point of his lance to be placed on Tower bridge where it stayed for 15 yrs.
Note: This is why the Cofiwn movement adopted the ivy as their logo and membership badge and started the tradition for Cymry to wear it in rememberance of Llywelyn ap Gruffydd annually on the 11th December.
In regards to Dafydd and his family, here a wikipedia account of their ill fated end.
"By January 1283, Edward I of England had the heartland of independent Wales ringed with a massive army. Dafydd initially operated from Dolwyddelan and was supported by various royal refugees from Powys Fadog and Deheubarth; including Rhys Wyndod, Rhys Ieuanc and the sons of Maredudd ab Owain. With limited resources of manpower and equipment available the passes leading to Dolwyddelan became indefensible and Dafydd moved down to Castell y Bere. In April, Castell y Bere was besieged by over 3,000 men, and the small Welsh garrison, commanded by Cynfrig ap Madog, surrendered on 25 April. Dafydd escaped the siege and moved north to Dolbadarn Castle, a guardpost in the Peris Valley at the foot of Snowdon. In May 1283, he was forced to move again, this time to the mountains above the Welsh royal home in Abergwyngregyn.
"Those who survived fled for refuge to the inaccessible rocks of Snowdonia and David with a few followers hid himself for some months at different places and suffered hunger and cold. At last he retreated to a bog (Nanhysglain), near Bera Mawr about four miles above Aber with his wife two sons and seven daughters. His place of retreat was known to Einion Bishop of Bangor and Gronw ab Dafydd, who basely betrayed him."[2]
On 22 June, Dafydd and his younger son Owain ap Dafydd were captured at Nanhysglain, a secret hiding place in a bog by Bera Mountain to the south of Abergwyngregyn. Dafydd, seriously wounded (graviter vulneratus) in the struggle, was brought to King Edward's camp at Rhuddlan that same night (Cotton Vesp. B xi, f30). Dafydd was taken from here to Chester and then on to Shrewsbury. Dafydd's wife Elizabeth de Ferrers, their daughter Gwladys, infant niece Gwenllian ferch Llywelyn, and Dafydd's six illegitimate daughters were also taken prisoner at the same time. Whether they were with Dafydd and Owain at Bera is not recorded, but it is likely.
On 28 June, Llywelyn ap Dafydd was captured. Edward triumphantly proclaimed that the last of the "treacherous lineage", princes of the "turbulent nation", was now in his grasp, captured by men of his own nation (per homines linguae suae).[3] Welsh resistance to the invasion temporarily came to an end. On 28 June, Edward issued writs to summon a parliament to meet at Shrewsbury, to discuss Dafydd's fate.
On 30 September, Dafydd ap Gruffudd, Prince of Wales, was condemned to death, the first person known to have been tried and executed for what from that time onwards would be described as high treason against the King. Edward ensured that Dafydd's death was to be slow and agonising, and also historic; he became the first prominent person in recorded history to have been hanged, drawn and quartered, preceded by a number of minor knights earlier in the thirteenth century. Dafydd was dragged through the streets of Shrewsbury attached to a horse's tail, then hanged alive, revived, then disembowelled and his entrails burned before him for "his sacrilege in committing his crimes in the week of Christ's passion", and then his body cut into four-quarters "for plotting the king's death". Geoffrey of Shrewsbury was paid 20 shillings for carrying out the gruesome act on 3 October 1283".
Dafydd's steward Mabalin was also in Shrewsbury, where he was also dragged around the streets by horses before having his body torn apart by them.
I would add to the above passage that Llywelyn ap Dafydd was 20 yrs old when he was captured with his father and Owain his brother was younger. They were both dragged in chains to Bristol castle.
We see from the above Wikipedia passage that Llywelyn ap Dafydd had died "in mysterious circumstances" at this castle whilst, on Edward's orders, Owain, who was a child, was to be kept in chains and locked in a wooden cage within the dungeons for fear of him escaping. He was kept half starved with little clothing He must have lost his mind as there's a reference to him when he was about 30yrs of age sending a plea to the king to be allowed to play within the walls of his prison.
On that sad and fateful day on the 22 June 1283, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, his family and thirty of his loyal followers were captured on Bera mountain. , Gronw ab Dafydd y Penwyn of Melai and Einion ap Ifor were the "Welsh" traitors who led the English soldiers to Dafydd's hideout and they were rewarded with 30 marks and 20 head of cattle each for their betrayal. i refer to them as "Welsh" as I do not consider them worthy of being called Cymry.
The treachery does not end there, Edward 1 had already been given the privy seal that had been retrieved from Llywelyn on his death and had been searching for all the royal treasures of Gwynedd including the Croes Naid, this was handed over to him by Dafydd's Secretary Huw ab Ithel who was rewarded with a scholsrship to Oxford.
Whatever has been repeated about Dafydd's behaviour in regards to his rebellions against his brother Llywelyn, surely, this document will show him to have had reasonable cause for his grievances. In the end, he and Llywelyn, united to lead the Cymry in a war against a much larger nation that had a ferocious and tyrannical leader that would not stop until he had every acre of Cymru in his grasp, and of course, he was assisted by treacherous "Welsh" There had been plenty of willing traitors around then and continued to be throughout the following centuries and up to the present day, where they are too ready to forget the sacrifices made by loyal patriots of the past in their eagerness to salivate bow low and shake the hands of the English royalty as they continue to ravage our land and rule over us.
Gerallt Lloyd Owen in his poignant poem Fy Ngwlad could not have put it better:
Wylit, wylit, Lywelyn, Wylit waed pe gwelit hyn.Ein calon gan estron wr, Ein coron gan goncwerwr, A gwerin o ffafrgarwyr Llariaidd eu gwên lle'r oedd gwyr. Fe rown wên i'r Frenhiniaeth, Nid gwerin nad gwerin gaeth. Byddwn daeog ddiogel A dedwydd iawn, doed a ddêl, Heb wraidd na chadwynau bro, Heb ofal ond bihafio. Ni'n twyllir hyn hir gan au Hanesion rhyw hen oesau. Y ni o gymedrol nwyd Yw'r dynion a Brydeiniwyd, Ni yw'r claear wladgarwyr, Eithafol ryngwladol wyr.
Fy ngwlad, fy ngwlad, cei fy nghledd Yn wridog dros d'anrhydedd.
O gallwn, gallwn golli Y gwaed hwn o'th blegid di.
Llywelyn, tears of blood you'd weep, If you should see this from your sleep: Our heart in a foreigner's hand, Our ancient throne in a conqueror's land; A nation where the meek abound, Where once were men who stood their ground. We smile beneath the Royalty, Peasants are peasants, never free. We'll carry on our slavish way Content and happy come what may; Lost of roots, nothing to save, Without a care but to behave. We shall not be deceived for long By fables and historic song, For we, who now just count to ten, Are Wales' Rule-Britannia men. We are the patriots who lack fire, The headstrong international choir. In honour of your name, my land, I'll ride with reddened sword in hand, And nothing more than this is true: How I could spill this blood for you.
Translator to English: Meirion Macintyre Huws
Dafydd ap Gruffydd and those that sacrificed at his side to the bitter end most certainly deserved to be remembered with a fitting memorial. will they be though?
BELOW: INFORMATION ON HOW TO GET TO NANHYSGLAIN. Why not organise a field trip for to see what's possible?
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